


Dear Editor

by Littlebluejay_hidingpeanuts



Category: Original Work
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-26
Updated: 2020-01-26
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:40:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22422736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Littlebluejay_hidingpeanuts/pseuds/Littlebluejay_hidingpeanuts
Summary: Brief essay on a Dolce & Gabbana ad. Devil’s advocate/unpopular point of view exercise. Written in 2008. No offense meant to anyone who might be triggered this ad or blasé language about gang rape.
Kudos: 1





	Dear Editor

Dear Editor,

Fashion! Clothes! Sex! The clothes advertisements in fashion magazines and women’s magazines are becoming increasingly risqué and sexual. Unlike the advertisements of old, which filled the page with writing, the advertisements of today barely have any writing within a page length picture. Magazines have become picture books with quaint, little articles placed decoratively within for the sake of appearing to be a real magazine. 

Take the controversial Dolce & Gabbana ad for example.

It depicts a highly sexual, even perverted, image of a woman being held down on an elevated surface by a topless man. Other muscled men surround them; some clothed, some topless, that all seem to be in a state of indifference or slight interest in the scene before them. An imaginary landscape of blue and white boards makes straight lines and angles against a bright blue and white sky. The woman, in “tie-up” heels and a black, shiny bathing suit, looks as if she has struggled against the man, but is tempted by him as her pelvis is lifted towards his. The man above her reflects her position by being on his knees on the platform with his arms perpendicular to her shoulders as he has all his weight over the woman. The other men are placed around the frame, two on the left and two on the right, creating a balanced look with the boards in the middle. To enhance both a surreal and a normal feeling, hints of a swimming pool can be seen around the men’s legs. The only writing in the picture is the name, Dolce & Gabbana. The words, in transparent white writing, are placed along the line that intersects the couple in the middle. This draws the viewer’s attention directly to the man and the woman. The only colors are shades of blue, bluish-black, white, and skin-color. Somehow, each person in the picture was able to find bucket loads of bronzing oil because the skin in the picture is glossy and tan. The main man--the one holding the woman down--has his eyes covered by dark sunglasses, making him all the more threatening. On the whole, the picture is well put together. There is ambiguity as well as sexual tension. The colors keep the mood calm. The picture is balanced. It has contrast between the fake landscape and the real sky. The geometric structures contrast with the elemental water in the pool. Whoever composed this picture, not just set up or shot, but composed, really knew what they were doing. The photographer knew the audience, what the company wanted the audience to feel, and how to create that feeling without taking out the imagination, or varying emotion that the audience would come up with on its own. 

Yet people see this ad as a depiction of gang rape! Over time, the US culture has become increasingly touchy about how much sex is allowed in the public. This is surprising since sexual innuendo is everywhere in the media. Sex has become greatly accepted, but decreasingly celebrated. With the increase of adultery and underage sex, adults view sex as rampant in the United States. Every single advertisement has women posing as if they have every intention of allowing a man to run up to them, rip the expensive clothes off their bodies and have their way with the models. Why is this wrong?! It used to be unseemly to expose your ankles. Now, every little chica who thinks she is so sexy and tough runs around wearing pants that literally show her butt! Why is it bad juju to have ads show scantily clad women, yet parents allow their children to dress like those women? It is not single people who feel this way, but people who have had children. Children themselves do not honestly care. All the talk about how the media is influencing children for the purposes of evil is being led by the parents, not the children. 

This Dolce & Gabbana ad did exactly for what it was made. It got the company publicity. It made people think and react and talk about Dolce & Gabbana. The ad is a well-crafted representation of today’s advertisement standards: how far marketing will go to get sales and how much sex people will allow in the public. If people do not want sex on television, in magazines, or on the news, then they better just look the other way. Sex, open, hot, and dirty, is here to stay. Give up trying to have the sex talk with your kids. They already know everything, and probably more than you do.


End file.
